Lol well the only reason thatis acceptable is because it was the walking dead lol we love that show!!

 

The thing is, I'd heard everyone rave about it so about 2 weeks ago I started streaming it on netflix which got me thru seasons 1 and 2 but season 3 wasn't available. Then yesterday they had that marathon and the new episode so I used it to catch up and now I'm current. LOL

And in regards to my trail gear issue. They called me today and I explained the issue I had with them. Basically their part wasn't what I expected and then when I called to figure out what was up before wasting my time wrestling the motor into place the attitude I got on the phone was I had no clue what I was talking about and that no matter what it would fit with no issues. Well turns out I did know what I was talking about and the issues I was worried about ended up happening.

So we had a chat this afternoon and basically we/they came up with something that I think is going to minimize my pain and keep me from having to pull the engine back out to fix. I'm happy with how they handled my issue and I think the solution we worked out will fix my problem. I explained my unhappiness with the service I got on the phone last week and they said they've actually had a company wide meeting discussing it and said they're working on making changes. So... With that said, I feel like they've stepped up and done what was needed to address both my issue and the customer service issue.

 

Woot woot!! Glad all that got resolved!!

 

Well, the fix trail gear came up with showed up at the door step yesterday and ended up not working. So I built myself a hybrid motor mount combined with their parts and some of my own.

IF ANYONE IS THINKING TO RUN THE TRAIL GEAR MOTOR MOUNTS AND SEES THIS, BEFORE YOU DO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CLEARANCE TO DROP YOUR MOTOR ABOUT 1/2"-3/4" WITHOUT INTERFERENCE!

So anyways, I built these last night and got them bolted up in place. My goal is to button up the whole front end tonight and get it to the point where I just need to go buy fluids tomorrow morning and top everything off and possibly longer oil lines depending where I end up mounting the remote filter.

If I can pull all of that off and have it running fairly early tomorrow I'll probably pull it out, take it for a quick spin around the block and then pull it back in the garge opposite of how it sits now and start tearing down the rear suspension. In a perfect world I'll have the rear suspension cleaned up, cycled, secondary bumps in place and all reassembled by the end of the weekend fully prepped and ready to rock.

 

Wow, really on the Trail Gear mounts? When I got some for my 3.4 swapped 4Runner, I actually had to grind about 1/8" off each block bracket cause the mounts are too tall.

The bracket original(the one you're talking about that broke, right?)


And the modified ground down version


And the other side


And yet, when I got a set for my 83 with 22R(their website claimed "new and improved") they went in perfect.

By the way, you got an awesome truck and did some awesome stuff! Thank your buddy for his service.

 

Yes, we broke the bracket on the driver side which is the 3 bolt one you show.

That's interesting on the TG mounts cause they said the same thing on the phone, basically they'd heard that if anything they lift the motor about 1/8" or so which was absolutely not the case for me. I've got a picture on my camera I can upload showing the TG sitting next to the OE rubber mount and there's no mistaking it's quite a bit shorter. Kind of makes you wonder what they're doing over there. Doesn't matter much, it's behind us at this point and I'm confident we have a setup that will hold or at the very least is stronger then what we had previously.

Over the weekend I got the front end 100% buttoned up. Put the hood back on and everything. Only thing left to do is hit the shocks with some pressure before taking it out. On the front end at least...

I've got the rear suspension 100% torn apart, the leafs are torn down to just the main 3 and it's setup to cycle right now. I'll hopefully get the secondary bumps mounted up tonight that I want to fab up and then I can get the leafs cleaned up and put back together. I've got a little work to do on the rear shackles also. The mounting holes in a couple of them have gotten ovaled out so I need to address that. Should hopefully have the rear end completely back together mid week.

 

How did they oval?? To loose or not thick enough metal?

 

They worked loose. Personally I think the bushing/sleeve combo that is supplied with the leafs are the wrong length as an overall system.

 

Rear end is all back together and it's sitting back on the ground. Should have plates cut out for a new transmission mount tomorrow and that'll be my sat morning project which hopefully shouldn't be too hard. Then I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend redoing some cage work and mount stuff in the rear. After that the interior needs a little love and then it's parked and outta my hair for a while so I can start on the next project in line!

 

Whats next?? Your truck?? Upload some progress oics when u get to rearranging stuff!!

 

Actually my explorer is next, then over the summer my truck should see some love too hopefully. The expo isn't going to be your average soccer wagon!

I cut out a ton of tubes and mounts for stuff in the spare tire area last night. I'm redoing all of that.

 

Before...







After...

 

With those tires sitting lower yall will def feel more stable lol is that why u did that?? To lower the center of gravity?

 

Not sure if we'll physically notice anything or not truth be told. Reason for it though... I messed up and set up the spare tire mounts for the nitto spares that used to be on the truck. They're a 35x12.5x15... I knew all same sized tires weren't physically the same size in reality but forgot that fact along the way. Well turns out the nittos are about the narrowest tire in that size we could've got so virtually any other tire was too wide to drop into the spare tire holders. So that forced us to have to address it no matter what. On top of that, Jason cosmetically didn't like how high up the tires sat so I figured if I was having to make changes, might as well suck it up and do it all at once. Above is the results... As far as COG and top heavy and will we notice it... No clue but it really can't hurt that's for sure!

 

sweet truck. if only they didnt cost so much to build lol

 

LOL, I could be a smart ass and say it was cheap! In fact free to be honest. Jason on the other hand would probably say it was pretty easy to build but cost a ton! I'd say the build had it's moments, in fact it almost sent me to the ER room last weekend but it was cheap at least from my end! LOL

 

Weeeeeeeeeee


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1ncf...ature=youtu.be

 

Two days away from hopping on a plane and moving to London for the next three years so have been neglecting some truck updates. Finally uploaded a bunch of HDRA South Point 250 pics to our Facebook page.

You can check out some of the pictures my Dad took throughout the day here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=57cbfd19df

And some shots from the pro photogs here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=99e2840fed

Make sure to like our Facebook page if you haven't already! I'm getting around to posting some race video from the truck and will have some cool new stuff to update for a little test session Khris did this weekend as well!

 

A bit of a backlog on video, from the race and some post race testing sessions. But the truck is fine, just waiting for the chance to shred some desert!

 

Ok thanks to the big move to London I've been swayed away from the truck obsession but now that we're settled the obsession is back! Finally got around to editing up some video from the HDRA South Point 250 back in January. We had a blast and can't wait to get back in the truck and do it again!